| NET Bible | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed! She is full of lies; she is filled with plunder; she has hoarded her spoil! | 1Woe to the city of blood, totally deceitful, full of plunder, never without prey. |
| 2The chariot drivers will crack their whips; the chariot wheels will shake the ground; the chariot horses will gallop; the war chariots will bolt forward! | 2The crack of the whip and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and jolting chariot! |
| 3The charioteers will charge ahead; their swords will flash and their spears will glimmer! There will be many people slain; there will be piles of the dead, and countless casualties--so many that people will stumble over the corpses. | 3Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end--they stumble over their dead. |
| 4"Because you have acted like a wanton prostitute--a seductive mistress who practices sorcery, who enslaves nations by her harlotry, and entices peoples by her sorcery-- | 4Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute, the attractive mistress of sorcery, who treats nations and clans like merchandise by her prostitution and sorcery, |
| 5I am against you," declares the LORD who commands armies. "I will strip off your clothes! I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms; | 5I am against you. This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies. I will lift your skirts over your face and display your nakedness to nations, your shame to kingdoms. |
| 6I will pelt you with filth; I will treat you with contempt; I will make you a public spectacle. | 6I will throw filth on you and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you. |
| 7Everyone who sees you will turn away from you in disgust; they will say, 'Nineveh has been devastated! Who will lament for her?' There will be no one to comfort you!" | 7Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying, "Nineveh is devastated; who will show sympathy to her?" Where can I find anyone to comfort you? |
| 8You are no more secure than Thebes--she was located on the banks of the Nile; the waters surrounded her, her rampart was the sea, the water was her wall. | 8Are you better than Thebes that sat along the Nile with water surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, the river her wall? |
| 9Cush and Egypt had limitless strength; Put and the Libyans were among her allies. | 9Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength; Put and Libya were among her allies. |
| 10Yet she went into captivity as an exile; even her infants were smashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her nobility; all her dignitaries were bound with chains. | 10Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her children were also dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains. |
| 11You too will act like drunkards; you will go into hiding; you too will seek refuge from the enemy. | 11You also will become drunk; you will hide. You also will seek refuge from the enemy. |
| 12All your fortifications will be like fig trees with first-ripe fruit: If they are shaken, their figs will fall into the mouth of the eater! | 12All your fortresses are fig trees with figs that ripened first; when shaken, they fall--right into the mouth of the eater! |
| 13Your warriors will be like women in your midst; the gates of your land will be wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars of your gates. | 13Look, your troops are like women among you; your land's city gates are wide open to your enemies. Fire will devour the bars of your gates. |
| 14Draw yourselves water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Trample the mud and tread the clay! Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls! | 14Draw water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Step into the clay and tread the mortar; take hold of the brick-mold! |
| 15There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down; it will devour you like the young locust would. The Assyrian Defenders Will Flee Multiply yourself like the young locust; multiply yourself like the flying locust! | 15The fire will devour you there; the sword will cut you down. It will devour you like the young locust. Multiply yourselves like the young locust; multiply like the swarming locust! |
| 16Increase your merchants more than the stars of heaven! They are like the young locust which sheds its skin and flies away. | 16You have made your merchants more numerous than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away. |
| 17Your courtiers are like locusts, your officials are like a swarm of locusts! They encamp in the walls on a cold day, yet when the sun rises, they fly away; and no one knows where they are. | 17Your court officials are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day; when the sun rises, they take off, and no one knows where they are. |
| 18Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria! Your officers are slumbering! Your people are scattered like sheep on the mountains and there is no one to regather them! | 18King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together. |
| 19Your destruction is like an incurable wound; your demise is like a fatal injury! All who hear what has happened to you will clap their hands for joy, for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty! | 19There is no remedy for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news about you will clap their hands because of you, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty? |
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